Okay. So a quick update turned into a month. I'm so sorry! Taking 18 credits in one semester is NEVER a good idea and I know that now. Yay for spring break though! I look forward to hearing what everyone thinks! Thank you so much for your reviews!
Wade and Zoe got in her car and drove over to Brick's to meet Lemon and Lavon. It was their last day in town and they agreed to come over for a barbeque. Zoe promised Wade that she was okay and that she honestly didn't mind going over to the party and at the time she wasn't lying. Things change though.
They parked on the dirt road in front of Brick's plantation and sat in the car for the next couple of minutes as they tried to gather themselves. Wade had the beer he promised to bring and Zoe made a peach pie. Living in Alabama for the last couple of years had its perks, like learning to bake. Zoe's peach pie was already well-known throughout the townspeople. It was almost always requested at some kind of event going on.
"Are you sure you want to do this? They will understand, staying home to rest doesn't make you a bad friend Doc." Wade insured her, she just wasn't having it.
"Wade, please just drop it. It happened, another miscarriage…it already happened. It's over. He babies gone. Can we please just move on with our lives?" Zoe snapped and fumbled out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Wade was honestly just trying to help and she knew that, its just that he wasn't actually feeling comforting to her at the moment.
He saw her smoothing down the few wrinkles in her light blue summer dress and pushing down the foil on top of the pie while she walked to the back yard. She hadn't waited for him, in fact she was about ten steps in front of him. He couldn't help but be a little apprehensive at what was going to happen during the party. It was common sense that he couldn't keep the sight of a pregnant Lemon or little kids at the party away from her and that was a painful reminder that he didn't think she was ready to face yet.
The first person they ran into was Shelby. She had a sleeping Jack in her arms but was still as social as can be. She gave both Zoe and Wade a half hug and pointed to wear Wade cold put the beer. The party had more people than Zoe expected, half the town seemed to be there. She searched out into the crowd for her best friend Lavon but didn't see him yet.
"So that's why I switched back to 2% milk!" Shelby finished whatever it was she was chattering about and Zoe nodded her head in agreement. She had convinced herself to come be social and Shelby was challenging her right away.
"Ohh ok. True." Zoe put out a polite smile, hoping that her response answered Shelby's statement at least somewhat. She seemed pacified with the answer though because she just laughed and shook her head too.
"Shelby, come help me in the kitchen, we're trying to get this sweet tea out but can't find your pitcher!" Lemon hollered across the yard.
"Oh, yeah! I had to find a new place for it when your daddy got me one of those apple slicers!" Shelby responded fully even though Lemon had already diverged back into the kitchen. Shelby passed the sleeping Jack to Zoe unknowingly and Zoe pulled him into her chest. Shelby didn't know and she couldn't avoid babies forever, right?
Jack had really short but curly brown hair. His skin was a couple shades lighter than Lavon's and he looked just like him. He was a big baby for an eight month old and she figured he must be in a very high percentile for a kid his age. They couldn't have had a better baby, he wasn't colicky and seemed to drift off to sleep really easily.
She walked to a table that was filled with food and picked up a peanut butter cookie. It was soft and chewy…just the thing she needed as a small pick-me-up. She took a small bite of the cookie and continued soothing Jack, running her hand up and down his back. His breathing was so steady and soft. He really was an adorable baby.
"Zoe! Have you seen Tom?" Wanda asked her from a couple feet away, she was visibly searching the crowd for her tall, slender husband.
"I have not. Why? Is something wrong?" Zoe inquired, mostly worried because it was rare that Tom left Wanda's side.
"No, nothin' at all is wrong. Everything's peachy. Except he keeps disappearin' and I'm pretty sure he's sneaking cookies for Leia and him when I know for a fact that they haven't ate dinner yet." She laughed and rolled her eyes. Leia was about as odd as her name allowed her to be. She was a three year old that was just like Tom. Red hair, freckles, obsessed with star wars already…it really was hilarious. Zoe tried stifled a laugh at the thought of the image of father and daughter. That seemed to cheer her up a little bit.
Jack started tossing and turning in her arms and she knew the monster was awakening. She smiled when she saw her favorite little boy but had a change of heart when him smile turned into a shrill scream and tears started running down his face. Lemon was outside in all of about two seconds and scooped him up before giving Zoe a big hug. She kissed her cheek and pulled her inside with her and Shelby.
Lemon had a glass of wine in Zoe's hand before she was fully in the kitchen. Jack was already asleep again and she set him in the play pin that sat in the corner of the kitchen.
"How are you holding up?" Lemon questioned her, staring intently while she waited for Zoe's response.
"Fine, why?" She asked, not offering up any kind of specific response. There really was nothing to talk about.
Lemon looked her in the eyes, studying them really. If she wasn't going to get an answer out of Zoe she was going to find one herself. Her eyes looked tired, much like they did the night before at the bar.
"Just curious. You know I'm just a couple of hours away, right? …To talk or to visit. You can come up any time… ya hear?" Lemon lectured Zoe in the best way she knew how. Over the past couple of years Zoe had managed to snake her way into so many people's lives in Bluebell, Lemon's probably the most. Her past enemy was now a best friend and her best friend looked miserable and she didn't know how to fix it.
"I know, thanks Lemon. I'm okay, really. Just took me awhile to realize that kids aren't in the cards for me." She admitted and forced a smile that didn't convince anyone. Shelby was on the other side of the kitchen. She was listening intently but trying to act like she wasn't, making herself busy finishing up a potato salad to put out on the buffet.
Lemon didn't blink for the next couple of moments while she processed what Zoe was saying. There were so many different avenues she could take to have kids but she seemed to throw the idea away so quickly.
"I guess I just worry about what Wade wants. He's been talking about kids for forever and I can't give them to him." She confessed. More tears started filling her eyes and she blinked profusely trying to will them away. "What if I'm wasting his time?"